‘Marakkar’ Wins Best Film at India’s National Film Awards - Variety

Priyadarshan’s “Marakkar: Lion of the Arabian Sea” has won best feature film at India’s National Film Awards which were announced Monday.

The Malayalam-language film, a period epic starring Mohanlal, had its global release halted last year by the COVID-19 pandemic. It is now due to release in May 2021. The film also won awards for special effects and costume.

The awards are for 2019 and were due to be announced a year ago, before the pandemic intervened.

Sanjay Puran Singh Chauhan was named as best director for Hindi-language film “Bahattar Hoorain.” The acting award was shared by Manoj Bajpayee for Hindi-language film “Bhonsle,” and Dhanush for Tamil-language “Asuran.” Kangana Ranaut won best actress for Hindi-language films “Manikarnika” and “Panga.”

Vijay Sethupathi won the supporting actor award for Tamil-language “Super Deluxe,” while Pallavi Joshi won supporting actress for “The Tashkent Files.”

In the writing categories, Kaushik Ganguly won the original screenplay award for “Jyeshthoputro,” and Srijit Mukherji best adapted screenplay award for “Gumnaami.” Both are in Bengali. Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri won the best dialogue prize for “The Tashkent Files.”

Girish Gangadharan won best cinematography prize for India’s unsuccessful Oscar contender, the Malayalam-language “Jallikattu.” Navin Nooli won the best editing prize for Telugu-language “Jersey.”

D. Imman won best music for Tamil-language “Viswasam” and Prabuddha Banerjee won best background music for “Jyeshthoputro.”

Hindi language “Kastoori” won the best children’s film award and Mathukutty Xavier won best debut for Malayalam-language “Helen.”

Tamil-language “Oththa Seruppu Size 7” won the special jury award. The film was also one of two sound award winners, with the other going to Khasi-language “Iewduh.”

In the documentary and shorts categories, Hemant Gaba’s “An Engineered Dream” won best non-feature film, and Sudhanshu Saria won best director for short “Knock Knock Knock.” Savita Singh won best cinematography for “Sonsi,” Saptarshi Sarkar sound for “Rahas” and Arjun Gourisaria editing for “Shut Up Sona.”

The National Awards also recognize the best film in each Indian language and this year “Chhichhore,” starring the late Sushant Singh Rajput won best Hindi film.

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